It was discovered on 10 March 1940, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary.
[2] Mátra is a member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids in the inner main-belt.
[1] One day prior to Mátra's official discovery observation at Konkoly, a precovery was taken at Nice Observatory.
[8] American astronomer Richard P. Binzel obtained a rotational light-curve of Mátra from photometric observation in the 1980s.
[3] This minor planet was named after the Mátra mountain range in northern Hungary, where the outstation of the discovering Konkoly Observatory is located.